1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an information processing apparatus in which a plurality of memory boards have been installed and are capable of being accessed, and to a method of backing up a memory in this apparatus.
2. Description of the Related Art
In a multifunction peripheral having a copy function and a facsimile function, a first memory area that stores image data used by the copy function and a second memory area that stores image data used by the facsimile function are provided as distinct areas. In the case of the copy function, image data that has been scanned by a scanner is stored in the first memory area temporarily, after which the image data is read out and printed (copied). In the case of the facsimile function, received image data or image data to be transmitted is accumulated in the second memory area at the time of memory receive or memory transmit. Even if electric power supply to the main body of the apparatus is cut off before the image data in the second memory area is printed or transmitted, it is required that the content of the image data be retained. For this reason, the memory is backed up by a battery. However, since the data in the first memory area and data in a work area for a program currently being run does not require to be retained when the electric power supply is cut off, such data is not backed up by a battery.
The electric power needed to back up a memory increases in proportion to the capacity of the memory backed up. In a case where memory capacity has been extended, therefore, the length of backup time using the same battery is shortened. Depending upon memory capacity, therefore, it becomes necessary to increase the capacity of the backup battery. A method of solving this problem has been proposed. Specifically, the method is such that even though memory capacity has been extended, only a basic memory area is backed up and the extended memory is not backed up [see Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2002-209074 (Document 1)]. According to Patent Document 1, memory area for facsimile and a program work area are always placed in the basic memory. If extended memory has been installed, then an image memory area for copying (expansion, rotation, sorting, etc.) is placed in the extended memory.
With the method of Document 1, however, since the work area for program execution is placed in the basic memory, much of the capacity of the basic memory must be reserved as the work area even though the extended memory has been installed. As a result, a problem which arises is that even though the extended memory has been installed, sufficient image memory area for facsimile cannot be acquired because the memory area for facsimile is placed in the basic memory.